Costly Signal
by Sasassy
Summary: Uta had always been artistic, constantly doodling and sketching, so it didn't come as a surprise to Renji when one day he started to branch out.


Uta had always been artistic, constantly doodling and sketching, so it didn't come as a surprise to Renji when one day he started to branch out.

##

It had been a particularly rough week in the 4th Ward and Renji went over to Uta's place to check on him, see if the rumours about the other being almost defeated were true. If he was really honest with himself he was worried about the blond and he wanted to make sure himself, see for himself, that Uta was still alive and kicking.

He just barged into Uta's apartment unannounced, as he usually did since the younger ghoul had told him it was okay. Uta was lying down on his couch, feet propped up, bloody bandages strewn across the floor and he was doing … Origami?

Renji stopped dead in his tracks.

"What are you doing?" he asked, the reason why he came in the first place completely forgotten.

"Origami," Uta replied without looking up from the partly crumbled and bloodied piece of paper. His fingers tugged at the corners and he tried to adjust the folds, but he wasn't succeeding. "Or at least I try. I only started a few days ago and it's actually hard." He pouted and held up the crooked figure that could have been a bird when Renji squinted and tilted his head to the left.

"I see that. But why?" He took the deformed figure since Uta was obviously offering it to him. When he had a grip on it the blond collapsed back down on the couch, mouth twitching as if he was in pain.

"Distraction," was his only answer before he went quiet.

Renji pulled the other's legs out of the way so he could sit down in his usual spot on the couch. He took in the bloody rags on the floor and decided that he'd have to get food so Uta could heal properly and quickly.

As he listened to Uta's breathing even out, he held up the little paper figure and examined it. There was definitely a little beak, so it must have been a bird. The rest was sketchy at best.

"It's a crow."

It wasn't more than a soft murmur, so quiet that Renji thought he'd imagined it. But the barely there smile on the other's lips told him that he had in fact spoken.

"It's a crow," he repeated in the same whisper. "I made it for you."

He passed out while Renji gaped at him, hands cradling the gift and a strange warmth blooming in his chest.

##

Months after the Origami incident, long after Renji had moved to the 20th Ward and left his old life behind him once again, he'd gone back to Uta's place. Just because he felt like hanging out.

He didn't walk in without announcing himself as he used to, too much had happened in the meantime and he wasn't quite sure on what terms they were at the moment. So Renji knocked and waited.

It didn't take long until the door opened and Uta appeared, bleached hair longer than Renji remembered it ever being and hands covered in a weird substance he didn't recognise.

"What's that?" he asked by way of greeting, nose wrinkling in disgust as he followed him inside. There was a strange smell hanging in the air that he couldn't quite place.

"Clay," the smaller man replied in a matter-of-fact voice as if Renji should have known. So that was that weirdly earthy and moist scent.

"Why is there clay on your hands?"

"I took up pottery."

He said it like it was completely normal for the strongest and most dangerous ghoul of one of the more dangerous wards to have a hobby like _pottery_.

Renji decided to play along.

"Is it coming along better than the Origami?"

Uta chuckled. Apparently it wasn't.

"You tell me. I made this for you." And he pointed at a clump of clay that didn't look like anything at all.

"That's a nice … uhm …" Renji was at a loss for words. He couldn't really say that it was a nice tumour, could he?

"It's supposed to be a raven, but it didn't quite work out that way." He scratched his head sheepishly, leaving crumbs of clay in his blond hair.

Renji felt his cheeks warming with a blush. Why was he crafting these silly things for Renji? Thank God Uta was facing away from him and poked at his clay clump.

The odd feeling in his chest was back and he suddenly wanted to run his fingers through blond hair, smoothing away the clay.

But mostly he just wanted to pet his hair, the feeling in his chest told him.

##

"Knitting."

"Yes, knitting. And guess what, I'm actually pretty decent at it."

Renji sighed and steeled himself for whatever atrocity was going to be thrown his way in the next minute. He'd gotten used to this by now. Over the last years Uta had tried more or (mostly) less successfully many handicrafts and dumped the less than stellar results on Renji. He called them _gifts_.

The taller man hated it, the process of gifting and having to say thank you to something as ugly as Uta's pottery or crocheted hats was incredibly painful and awkward. He didn't even understand why those things were so ugly anyway, when Uta's masks and drawings were so well done and beautiful. Maybe his only talents were drawing and making masks. Apart from dismembering a body efficiently, that is.

He sat down on Uta's couch in his usual spot and closed his eyes, waiting for the inevitable.

"Here. I made this for you," he heard the familiar voice with the familiar whisper he only used in these situations. Uta sounded almost shy when he presented his gifts. Which made the situation even more awkward because Renji actually felt bad for not liking the stuff.

Renji opened his eyes and there it was. A knitted sweater. A bright orange knitted sweater with a green _Ren_ on it.

"Uhm …" He trailed of and just stared. He couldn't believe this was actually happening. Uta had knitted a sweater with his fucking nickname on it.

"Put it on, I want to see if it fits," the mask maker said way too enthusiastically and held up the sweater expectantly.

"No way."

"Come on, don't be like that. I made this for you." That fucking pout was back. He had no business looking _cute_ with all the piercings and the tattoos and a jar of eyeballs sitting on the coffee table.

"No, not happening," Renji stood his ground. There was no way he was putting this on his body.

Before he knew what was happening Uta hat tackled him, pinning him in place while he tried to pull the sweater over Renji's arms.

"What the hell, get off me!" Renji shouted and tried to throw him off but Uta was still incredibly strong, even if he was much smaller in frame.

"No, you're putting this on. I made this for you and you will wear it."

One arm was already in and Renji felt annoyance bubble up in his stomach. He resisted even more, using his legs to mess with Uta's balance and his hands tried to grab the other's wrist.

"Stop struggling, dammit!" He wrestled the second arm into the sleeve and tried to pull it over Renji's head. The collar was too tight and Uta had trouble pulling it down without ripping the wool. He really didn't want to destroy the piece he'd knitted so carefully.

The sweater finally slipped down over Renji's head and Uta tugged it in place as quickly as possible, before the other one could put up even more of a fight.

Uta sat back on Renji's thighs and took him in. One of the most dangerous ghouls he had the pleasure to know personally, clad in a flaming orange sweater he'd crafted himself. He couldn't help but grin, showing off his teeth and cackling in amusement deep in his throat.

"It fits. And it looks even better on you than I expected," he said and patted Renji's chest good-naturedly, partly mocking him but mostly trying to calm his temper.

Renji just glared at him, eyes burning in anger but his tousled silver hair sticking up in every direction and the faint blush on his cheeks destroyed the aura of danger. Uta was used to his death glare by now, he wasn't even fazed by it anymore.

"Stop looking at me like you want to kill me, Ren. It's just a sweater."

"It's ugly," Renji snapped and crossed his arms over his chest.

Uta pouted in mock hurt. Or so he told himself.

"You wound me. That's such an awful thing to say, considering I spent months knitting this beautiful piece." He once again patted Renji's chest and traced the green symbols.

That shut Renji up. He started gnawing on his lower lip and averted his eyes, as if he had wanted to add something but thought better of it. Maybe Uta had been too convincing playing hurt and Renji felt guilty now.

So he backtracked and tried to ignore his own disappointment. "You don't have to wear it, Renji. Take it off and I'll get rid of it," Uta sighed. He wasn't happy about it, but Renji obviously hated it. Uta didn't want to force his friend into doing something he didn't want.

"No." He still didn't look at the mask maker but his voice was firm.

"What? I thought you hated it!" God, Renji could be so complicated sometimes.

"I … don't like it but it's a gift and I'll keep it," he mumbled so quickly and quietly, Uta almost didn't catch the words. When he registered them, his face split into a bright grin again and he couldn't help himself, he smacked a brief kiss onto Renji's lips. He broke it before the older ghoul could react in any way at all and pulled back. It was a daring move, they'd never kissed before but in that moment Uta felt an overwhelming desire to finally correct that and he didn't regret it.

"You're such a softie deep down, Raven," he cooed and flopped down next to him on the couch, draping his legs over the others lap.

He grabbed the remote and put on some kind of crime show to watch for the evening while Renji remained silent. He did curl his fingers around Uta's calf though.

Uta kept the corners of his mouth from turning up and stuck to cheering internally.

##

When Renji got home that night, he neatly folded the sweater and retrieved a box from his cupboard. He pulled out paper figures and ugly hats and laid the sweater on the bottom of the box, carefully nestling the more fragile tokens into the soft wool of it. A fond smile graced his mouth as his fingers played with the hem of the sweater as he relived the memory, a pleasant buzz filling his entire body.

* * *

The prompt for this one was:

 _Uta knits an ugly sweater and forces Yomo to wear it._


End file.
